Do The Carriers Hold The Key To Sinking Apple's Stock Price?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
, ContributorI write about hardware and software YOU need to know about.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Apple's stock price has fallen by around 10 percent over the past few weeks, from a high of $645 to around $570. Are the network carriers partly responsible for this fall?

Here's a chart showing Apple's performance over the past 6 months.

According to Aaron Troianovski of the Wall Street Journal, part of what's dragging down the stock price is that network carriers are reducing the handset subsidies they are offering customers. These subsidies are what bring the price of expensive smartphones such as the iPhone down to the point where the masses can afford them.

Troianovski offers up a couple of examples of how carriers are cutting back of subsidies:

Carriers are introducing or increasing upgrade fees for consumers wanting to switch handsets. For example, AT&T and Sprint have recently doubled their upgrade fees to $36, and Verizon introduced a fee of $30.

In Spain, Telefonica and Vodafone have both stopped subsidizing handsets for new customers. While existing customers still get a subsidy, cutting the subsidy to new customers will cut their spending on subsidies by as much as 25 percent.

It's clear that some of the world's biggest carriers are attempting to cool down the rate at which customers are upgrading their handsets. The reason for this is cost. Smartphones, and the iPhone in particular, cost the carriers hundreds of dollars per handset in subsidies. As consumers move from cheap dumbphones to expensive smartphones, the carrier's subsidy bills have skyrocketed.

First, the iPhone accounts for a massive 50 percent of Apple's revenue, and much of this comes from subsidies. Even a small drop in sales could have quite a significant impact on the company's bottom line. This is one of the biggest drawbacks to relying so heavily on a single product for the bulk of the company's revenue.

Secondly, carriers don't have to do away with subsidies altogether in order to have a negative effect on Apple, they just need to tweak them in such a ways that it slows down the upgrade cycle and encourages people to hold onto their handsets for longer.

It's interesting to note is that while Apple's stock has falled in recent months -- as has that of Google -- the stock price of some of the big network carriers have increased. This, according to Blodget, could be because the markets might be concerned that there's a change in power.

But it's not all doom and gloom for Apple. Sales of both the iPhone and iPad continue to be at stratospheric levels, and are showing no real sign of slowing down. Also, we can assume that a new iPhone is on the cards and will make an appearance over the next few months.